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2011 GERMANY GP: RED BULL STRIKES BACK, WEBBER FASTEST ON FP2

Mark Webber was quickest for Red Bull in the second Friday practice session for the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Webber's time of 1:31.711 was nearly 0.168s quicker than Alonso's effort, as they were the only two drivers to go faster than Alonso's morning effort. Sebastian Vettel was third once again, 0.2s further back, while Felipe Massa was fourth on a 1:32.354 as Ferrari and Red Bull set the headline pace.

The two Mercedes made late jumps to complete the top six, Schumacher ahead of Nico Rosberg, showing some good pace. There was a scare moment for Scumacher and Alonso late in the session, as Spaniard tried to dive down the inside of Schumacher in to turn seven and lost the rear end of the car as Schumacher turned in. Alonso took to the grass and just avoided side-swiping the Mercedes in what was a close escape from some heavy damage.

The best of the McLarens was back in seventh in Lewis Hamilton's hands, while Jenson Button had to sit out the final 20 minutes with an issue on a development exhaust and was only 11th. McLaren was more competitive on the long, heavy fuel runs though, with Hamilton setting lap times comparative to those ahead of him.

Renault was another team to explore exhaust possibilities, with Nick Heidfeld testing a new rear-exiting system as opposed to Vitaly Petrov who was running the team's usual front-exiting solution. There was no big gain to be had for either driver though, as the pair finished the session just 0.040s apart.